Let’s start with the conclusion: a trauma that has not been bathed for ten or even dozens of days actually has a much higher amount of bacteria on it than fresh water. Even with normal skin, there is a chance of rotting if you don’t bathe for a long time. So after a period of time, the wound must be bathed in order to promote healing. We recommend that this should ideally be about 1-2 weeks after the injury. First of all, let’s define the concept of “bathing”: after the dressing is removed from the wound, the wound is directly exposed to running water, rinsed, surrounded by shower gel, and rubbed by hand, which is the traditional meaning of “the wound is exposed to water”. Instead of washing the non-injured part of the body, wrapped in plastic wrap or a dressing, it is beyond the scope of this article to do so. Secondly, to clarify a misunderstanding, many people think that wounds can not touch water, touching water is prone to inflammation. In fact, most wounds can be touched with water, and will not become infected if they come into contact with tap water with “bacteria”. On the contrary, wounds that have not healed for more than 3 weeks can become infected and healing can be delayed if the wound is not cleaned by bathing. Why are wounds less likely to become infected even if they are exposed to water? As mentioned before: after a period of time after an injury, the amount of bacteria on the wound is much higher than in water. At this point, these bacteria need to be taken away by washing with running water, and then disinfectants are used to kill the remaining bacteria in order to achieve the best wound-cleansing effect. The main reason why we usually avoid touching water is because the scabs are prone to softening when they encounter water, and even build up fluid underneath the scabs, leading to infection. 2-3 weeks of unhealed wounds will form a fibrous plate barrier at the bottom, which makes them much less susceptible to infection and less painful. So why do many people say that wounds should not be touched with water. What about the fact that there are even some cases where we have had life experience ourselves where our wounds are red and swollen after a few days because they have touched water. Actually, that’s because these wounds would have gotten infected, it’s just that the average person would feel bad if they didn’t take a shower for a few days. After 3 or 4 days, it was too much to stay up and take a shower, and it just so happened that it was time for the redness and swelling as well. Here I briefly introduce the details of cleaning the wound: 1, the water for cleaning: you can use the water from the shower; you can also use warm boiled water for cleaning, that is, tap water that has been boiled and cooled to room temperature. There is no need to use sterilized water. 2, cleaning methods: rinsing, soaking both methods can be. There is no need to avoid soaking the wound, soaking in many domestic burn centers are used as the main treatment method for large deep burn wounds. It is especially effective for late granulation wounds. If the granulation edema is obvious, you can also add salt to the water to improve the osmotic pressure of water. 3, cleaning techniques: contact the wound with clean hands, gently rubbing to increase the sterilization effect. Even if there is a small amount of bleeding, there is no need to panic. Around the wound can be cleaned with some mild shower gel, do not be afraid to flow into the wound. 4, the frequency of cleaning: once a day, after cleaning is recommended to change the medicine immediately; or simple bandage to the hospital to deal with the wound. Finally, if you find that there is a red rash around the wound, the wound is smelly, itchy or there is pus coming out, you have to take a bath. Also, wounds that have already healed must be cleaned.